MAY 8. This May 8, 2023 is once again a public holiday, but it has not always been the case since 1945 and the end of the Second World War. Why is this date controversial, what is the origin of this holiday and what will be the program of commemorations this year?
[Updated May 5, 2023 at 11:54 a.m.] Double commemoration program for Emmanuel Macron this Monday, May 8, 2023. The President of the Republic will take part in the traditional ceremony in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in the morning before heading to Lyons. According to BFM TV, Emmanuel Macron is expected at the former Montluc prison in Lyon, a symbolic place of the Resistance against Nazism and which notably housed Jean Moulin’s last days in France before his transfer to Germany and his supposed death. at Metz station on July 8, 1943.
May 8 is a day of many meanings. This day was only declared a public holiday in 1953, eight years after the end of the conflict with 60 million deaths. If it has become the date symbol of the end of the Second World War in Europe, the reality is much more complex. May 8 also obscures the tragic memory of the massacres of Sétif, in Algeria. For its part, the USSR and then Russia used to commemorate the end of the “Great Patriotic War” the next day, May 9.
May 8 has been adopted as the day to commemorate Germany’s surrender in World War II. However, the reality is much more complex. Firstly because this event only marked the end of the Second World War in Europe, the conflict continuing for another four months in the Pacific, between Japan and the United States. Then because different acts of capitulation were signed at different times between May 7 and May 9, depending on the temporal referent chosen.
In any case, the beginning of May 1945 marks the collapse of the Third Reich. On April 30, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his chancellery bunker, while Soviet soldiers were in Berlin. Joseph Goebbels attempts to contact the Allies in order to sign an armistice. Unable to make the connection and refusing an unconditional surrender, he killed himself with his wife and children on May 1. The following day, the Battle of Berlin ended with the capitulation of German General Helmuth Weidling and the men in charge of the defense of the capital. From May 4 to 6, all remaining Nazi forces (in the Netherlands, northern Germany, Denmark, Bavaria, Breslau) surrender to the Allies. Herman Göring, the highest living Nazi official, surrenders to American authorities on the German-Austrian border.
There are actually two surrender documents: the first surrender of May 7, 1945, in Reims, and the second surrender of May 8, 1945, in Berlin. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz was appointed Reich President by Hitler in his will. At the head of a provisional government of the Reich, he tries to negotiate a series of partial surrenders against the Western allies, in order to be able to continue the fight in the east against the Soviet troops. The Americans refuse to compromise. German General Alfred Jodl, sent by Dönitz, signed the capitulation on May 7 at 2:41 a.m. This historic moment took place in a hall of the Technical and Modern College of Reims, which was then the HQ of the Allied forces.
Only, this signature is not to the taste of Stalin, who regrets the absence of high Soviet representatives during this signature. A second capitulation was organized on May 8 in the evening in Karlshorst, near Berlin. This time, it is the Supreme Commander of the Red Army, Georgy Zhukov, who presides over the signing. It was Wilhelm Keitel, supreme commander of the German armed forces, who signed the capitulation. It goes into effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8. In Moscow time, this time corresponds to May 9 at 01:01 a.m. Today is May 9, which is celebrated as the day of the German surrender in Russia.
Officially, the name of the holiday corresponding to May 8 is “Victory of 1945”. The use of the word armistice, as in the expression “armistice of 1945”, found on some calendars, is not correct. Indeed, an armistice is a convention signed by governments. It ends an armed conflict in time of war, but does not end the state of war. It is this type of document that was signed on November 11, 1918 in the wagon of Rethondes, starting a ceasefire and the negotiations that would lead to the Treaty of Versailles, signed by Germany and the Allies. In 1945, it is indeed a capitulation of the Third Reich. Indeed, it is a pure and simple surrender of a belligerent, the end of the fighting and the state of war. Hence the name “victory of 1945” and not “armistice of 1945”.
On May 8, 1945, at 3 p.m., the bells rang to mark the end of World War II in Europe. General de Gaulle himself announces the German capitulation in a radio address. Throughout France, scenes of joy accompany May 8 and 9, which are exceptionally public holidays to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany. There then remained German soldiers in France (around the ports of Dunkirk, Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, in particular). The question of commemorations arises very quickly. Government and veterans hesitate between establishing a single date – intended to celebrate the victories of 1918 and 1945 – and setting up a ceremony specific to the Second World War.
Law No. 46-934 of May 7, 1946 fixes May 8 (if it is a Sunday) or the Sunday following this date as the commemorations of the victory of 1945. Until then, May 8 was associated with the feast of Joan d’Arc (see below). It was in 1953 that May 8 actually became a public holiday, just like November 11, regardless of the day of the week on which it fell. In 1959, a decree seeking to limit the number of non-working days sends the French back to work. And in 1975, the President of the Republic, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, withdrew all official character from the date. His gesture seeks to mark Franco-German reconciliation, but irritates many veterans. It was finally François Mitterrand who gave back to May 8 its character as a public holiday. Law n°81-893 of October 2, 1981 adds this day to the list of non-working days in the labor code. This day is not celebrated in Great Britain, the United States or Germany.
May 8 is also an essential day of remembrance in Franco-Algerian relations. It was indeed on May 8, 1945 that the massacres of Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata began, in an Algeria then colonized by France. The drama kicks off on May 8. A demonstration by Algerian nationalists, demanding the independence of their country, is organized on the sidelines of a procession celebrating the victory of the Allies. They demand in particular the release of their leader – Messali Hadj – leader of the PPA (Algerian Popular Party), imprisoned by the French authorities. These demand that the demonstrators carry neither weapons nor the Algerian flag.
During the demonstration, in the city of Sétif, a young Muslim scout brandished an Algerian flag in the heart of a district largely populated by a population of European origin. The police try to remove the flag and shots break out between demonstrators and police. A 26-year-old young man, Algerian flag in hand, is shot dead by a policeman. Panic and confusion grew as native Muslims and people of European descent exchanged gunfire. The death toll exceeds 20 on each side. In Guelma, the police shoot, killing a demonstrator. In the countryside, riots against populations of European origin break out: 102 people are killed. The government, led by General de Gaulle, sends the army on the spot. The repression – which lasts until May 22 – is terrible: summary executions, bombardments of villages, ceremonies of “submission” to the French flag. The official toll established by the French authorities reports 1,000 deaths. In reality, the balance sheet would be five to ten times higher according to historians.
May 8 is also the date of Joan of Arc’s feast day. It was indeed on May 8, 1429 that an army, led by Joan of Arc, managed to deliver the city of Orléans, besieged by the English. Every year, the Johannine Festival of Orléans celebrates this event, culminating in a grand parade through the streets of the city center on May 8. The Centre-Val de Loire region and the town hall of the city asked in 2015 for the integration of these festivities into the intangible heritage of France, before considering a request for classification at Unesco.
In a different genre, May 8 is also a key day for the French nationalist right. At the beginning of the 20th century, the extreme right, led by Action Française, organized its rally on May 8 in front of the statue of Joan of Arc in Paris. In the 1970s, the National Front participated in these processions, before taking the lead. It was Jean-Marie Le Pen who decided to move this annual event from May 8 to May 1 in 1988: it was then a question of holding a meeting to influence the in-between rounds of the presidential election. . Since then, the rally organized by the National Front continues to be held on May Day. Other far-right groups continue to march on May 8.
